Dual enrollment, which allows students to take courses for college credit while still enrolled in high school, is increasingly widespread, with many state education agencies actively promoting the practice. While both two- and four-year colleges and universities offer these programs, high school students are more likely to be enrolled at community colleges.1

Research indicates that students who earn dual enrollment credits are more likely to attend college, earn a higher grade point average, and make swifter progress toward a college degree.2 While reducing the cost of higher education for some families, dual enrollment has been criticized for exacerbating inequality, since participants tend to be well-resourced white students.3 Some humanities faculty at four-year colleges and universities worry that dual enrollment drives down enrollment at their institutions.4 Other observers worry about the rigor and scope of such courses, particularly when they are offered for community college credit but taught by secondary school instructors.5 This study does not speak to the impact of dual enrollment, but it does indicate the number and distribution of high school students in the ecosystem of humanities education at community colleges.

Endnotes

• 1Stephanie Marken et al., Dual Enrollment Programs and Courses for High School Students at Postsecondary Institutions: 2010–11(Washington, DC: US Department of Education, 2013), Table 1. See alsoJohn Fink, Davis Jenkins, and Takeshi Yanagiura, What Happens to Students Who Take Community College “Dual Enrollment” Courses in High School? (New York: Community College Research Center and National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2017).
• 2Melissa Merchur Karp et al., The Postsecondary Achievement of Participants in Dual Enrollment: An Analysis of Student Outcomes in Two States (Minneapolis: National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, 2007).
• 3Erik Gilbert, “How Dual Enrollment Contributes to Inequality,” Chronicle of Higher Education, November 5, 2017, https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Dual-Enrollment/241668 (accessed 12/12/2018).
• 4See, for instance, the Forum, “Is High School the Future of Higher Education,” Perspectives on History, September 2015, available online at https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2015-x40815.
• 5Scott Jaschik, “Dual Enrollment, Multiple Issues,” Inside Higher Ed, August 30, 2018, https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/08/20/study-finds-mixed-impact-dual-enrollment (accessed 12/13/2018).